The two words, climate and equity, don’t often tango, do they? Instead, we’ve been sold a decentralized utopia. Instead, we make our way through a dark forest filled with gas fees, rug pulls and terms that only make sense to a computer science PhD. Whenever I hear about a new blockchain that’s an acronym based on an extinct prehistoric tyrannical predator, my interest immediately drops into the negative. This project has a $17 million war chest, which only increases my skepticism. T-Rex Blockchain? It’s intriguing. Let's dig in.
Can T-Rex Roar, Not Just Flop?
The core promise of T-Rex is simple: make Web3 actually rewarding, not just financially, but culturally. They want to address the ghost town scourge that so many blockchains suffer from. Think about it. You know the story, have you heard about the next big thing in crypto. Instead, it’s frequently a bot-infested, spam-covered, junkyard of abandoned accounts. T-Rex hopes to remedy that by creating incentives for genuine, meaningful engagement.
Their Proof-of-Engagement (PoE) mechanism is really interesting. It incentivizes users by paying them for daily social media activity such as liking, sharing and viewing. Picture receiving crypto simply for creating the content you’re already producing on TikTok or YouTube. Sounds too good to be true though, huh? The devil, as always, is in the details.
Will this PoE actually work? Or will it simply breed a new generation of click farms and engagement-starved bots? Will the rewards be meaningful enough to entice users away from the dopamine hits they already get from existing platforms? These are critical questions. The future of T-Rex matters on their success to actually build a real ecosystem and not just a fancy rewards program.
$8M Incubation Fund: A Creative Renaissance?
T-Rex announced today the opening of an $8 million Incubation Fund to help support needed emerging innovators, artists and creators. This is huge. This isn’t simply about doling out cash to the most politically-connected projects. It’s about taking an active role in determining the cultural landscape of Web3.
Who goes home with a slice of that dino-sized pie? Will it just be the same copy-paste crypto bros puffing out derivative, rule-breaking NFTs. Or will T-Rex truly make diversity and inclusion a top priority? Will they go above and beyond to center the work of marginalized voices and underrepresented artists? This is where the real potential lies.
I hope to see money going to the best meme creators advancing the limits of the art of dangerous internet humor. I hope to see more support for artists leveraging Web3 in their pursuit of creating politically charged art that goes against the grain of the establishment. My hope is that this platform will help create a fertile ground for a lively, diverse, active, online community.
Now picture this Web3 world where artists are paid what they deserve. Unlike other platforms, in this open and dynamic ecosystem creators are able to directly engage with their communities and users are rewarded for their participation. That’s T-Rex’s golden promise, and it’s a promise that’s worth fighting for.
Memes, Mayhem, and Meaningful Change?
Let's talk memes. Web3 could really use a little meme-fueled adrenaline right now. Might T-Rex be the platform that finally allows the full power of internet humor to be unleashed? Absolutely. But there are challenges.
Copyright and ownership are complex issues in the world of memes. How will T-Rex address these concerns? Or will they just develop a more effective system to exploit creators? We need to protect the idea sharing and remixing that is so important to meme culture.
What of the promise of T-Rex as a tool for social activism or political activism? Can it create space for previously marginalized voices to make themselves heard? What are the real dangers, pitfalls, and unintended consequences of being so experimental with such a new technology for such serious political purposes?
We’ve seen how platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have been weaponized to promote disinformation, cultivate hate and encourage violence. T-Rex should take affirmative and proactive steps to fix these issues. In doing so, they must clearly outline how their policies protect free speech, while setting clear standards of protection for users from harmful content.
Though blockchain may not be the biggest buzzword in transportation this year, it does have game-changing potential. There are some serious investors behind this project. It was built by a proven team, and they’re motivated by a real need to solve a big problem. Success is far from guaranteed. They need to do those things perfectly, while being inclusive and diverse, and developing a system that is enjoyable and enriching too.
If they’re successful in doing that, then perhaps, just perhaps, this $17 million dinosaur will be able to prove Web3 can be fun after all. And if it fails? At least we’ll get some great meme fuel in the interim while the next version of Web3 goes up in smoke.
Let’s face it, the deck is stacked against them. I, for one, am cheering for the big lizard.
